Increasing Bidirectional Engagement Between the MBC Community and Healthcare Providers
Bidirectional Care Integration focuses on delivering whole-person care. Building trust and fostering open communication between patients and healthcare providers can significantly improve patient outcomes and today we will talk about the various ways Hartford Healthcare is investing in patient education and shared decision making as a way to provide the highest standard of care for their patients.
Pasted from Dr. DeFusco’s Opening Remarks:
Good morning, My name is Pat DeFusco. I am a Medical Oncologist at Hartford Hospital and the Medical Director of the Breast Program at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. I am also a new board member of Infinite Strength. On behalf of both the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute and Infinite Strength, I am pleased to welcome you here today for this important program: “Increasing Bidirectional Engagement Between the Metastatic Breast cancer Community and Healthcare Providers.”
Infinite Strength: wow. I have had the privilege of getting more involved with this organization and its dynamic leader, Roberta Lombardi over the past few years. One person truly can make a difference. Roberta's personal journey with breast cancer began in 2016. During her treatment, she listened to those women being treated with her. She fully understood the blessings she had: insurance, the wonderful support of her spouse and family and other resources. But she took to heart the incredible hurdles faced by some of the women being treated right next to her. She found her passion and purpose in creating Infinite Strength to help single underserved moms with children who are being treated for metastatic breast cancer.
These young women need to juggle all of life's demands: caring for their children, rent, food, clothing, with the unrelenting need for ongoing scheduled treatments that are aimed at controlling their disease and can be associated with profound fatigue, inability to work, pain and depression. Many of these women are alone and may not know how to access resources that are available. By providing grants to support rent, food, clothing; by providing emotional support (I don't know how anyone could have a bigger heart than Roberta), by providing education such as today's program, by providing programs and holiday events for the children and parents: these are only some of the programs sponsored by Infinite Strength. And now, not only will Infinite Strength focus on CT, but it will expand its focus nationwide.
Today's program will be exciting. The architect of the presentations is Dr. Alvaro Menendez, Medical Director, Cancer Disparities and Health Equity for the HHC CI. He has assembled a wonderful panel of providers and patients who will speak directly to the need for bidirectional engagement in communication between health care providers and patients with metastatic breast cancer. Alessandra Cornelio, the ProgramDirector, Disease Centers for Excellence in the HHC CI, was instrumental in coordinating the logistics of today's program and in working with Roberta and Dr. Menendez to plan all the details. I also acknowledge the financial support for this program from our industry colleagues.
— Patricia A. DeFusco, MD
Thank you to Teresa Sullivan Photography for capturing these photos.
